• ONE problem with the proposals for the Murphy site (High times ahead in Kentish Town? November 14) is that there are too many tower blocks, up to 20 storeys looming over Kentish Town City Farm.

Tower blocks are pretty much discredited now as a humane form of habitation. In the modernist era, architect Le Corbusier proposed high-rise homes set in an idyllic landscape for recreation and enjoyment.

This model failed. Families in high-rise were isolated from community facilities, people were isolated from each other, and as Grenfell shows, high-rise flats are at risk of catastrophic safety failures.

Towers require a high level of servicing and use a lot of energy. As we try to adapt to a changing climate, we should be living closer to the ground in harmony with nature not separated from it.

The green spaces included in the Murphy proposals are very ambiguous. At King’s Cross idyllic green space is used like a setting in an advert, to help present the residential blocks for sale, and the ability to use these spaces in a natural way for any meaningful activity is limited.

At the Murphy site, the development of a convincing landscape has yet to emerge. This is difficult because 2/3 of the floorspace is due to be for commercial and industrial use.

A more appropriate urban form for this use would be courtyards and streets, connected to the surrounding streets of Kentish Town.

This highlights another major problem with the proposal: the lack of any new infrastructure to connect the site to the surrounding area. Camden planners should insist that new connections are a condition of the scheme. Otherwise this area will remain cut off, isolated and unsafe.

SUE SHEPHERD, NW3